6 July 6-12, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents worker. Earlier this month, a utility lineman from West Virginia reportedly died of “heat-re- lated causes” while trying to restore power in East Texas following some storms. Ana Gonzalez, Texas AFL-CIO’s deputy director of policy and politics, believes that scrap- ping safety measures like mandated water breaks will invariably lead to more deaths. “Construction is a deadly industry,” she said, according The Texas Tribune. “What- ever the minimum protection is, it can save a life. We are talking about a human right.” Experts report that the brutal heat envel- oping Texas is tied to climate change. The science communication organization Cli- mate Central recently released data indicat- ing that human-caused climate change made the state’s “near-record heat forecast” at least five times more likely. Meanwhile, the Environmental Protec- tion Agency predicts that climate change will result in more droughts and ever-climb- ing temps in Texas. Hot weather will threaten the health of both crops and cattle. By 2076, Texas will likely see up to four times as many 100-plus-degree days. Some people — including the elderly, children, the poor and the sick — are partic- ularly at risk during extreme heat. Hot days can worsen some people’s nervous and car- diovascular symptoms and result in dehy- dration and heat stroke. Gates’ death has caught the attention of at least one leader in Congress. In a statement late last week, U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a Dallas Democrat, said she was “devastated” by the news of her constituent’s passing. “Summer has only just begun, tempera- tures are only getting hotter, and tragedies like this can happen in any state, and any district,” Crockett said in part. “I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to come together to address the hazards faced by our country’s postal workers before another life is lost.” In 2017, the number of USPS delivery trucks without air conditioning hovered at around 70%, according to the Center for Public Integrity. ▼ CITY HALL RAISING THE STAKES DALLAS APPROVES ANOTHER $70,000 FOR POKER ROOMS LAWSUIT. BY JACOB VAUGHN T he Dallas City Council voted last week to spend more money in its fight to ban local poker rooms. The Council had voted in January to pay a law firm up to $300,000 to represent Andrew Espinoza, Dallas’ chief building official, in a lawsuit against two local poker clubs and the city’s own Board of Adjustment. Another $70,000 was approved for the suit on Wednesday. The city has spent some $250,000 arguing against its Board of Ad- justment in court. Altogether, Dallas could spend up to $620,000 on the litigation. The Dallas Board of Adjustment issued a certificate of occupancy to Texas Card House in 2019 and later issued a certificate to another club, Shuffle 214. The city ini- tially gave the green light to the clubs based on one interpretation of state law that sug- gests poker rooms may be legal. Several Texas cities allow poker clubs as long as they’re in private places, every player has an equal chance of winning and the house doesn’t take a cut of the bets. This is an exception to a general ban on gambling laid out in Texas law. However, Dallas decided in 2021 that this exception was never meant to apply to businesses like Texas Card House or Shuffle 214. In- stead, that exception was meant for pri- vate games at people’s homes, for example, according to Dallas Senior Assis- tant Attorney Gary Powell. So, even though nothing had changed about the once-approved clubs, Dallas revoked their certificates of occupancy. Texas Card House appealed the decision to the Board of Adjustment and won, getting the certificate back. That’s why the city sued its own board and the clubs, saying the board abused its power when it gave back the certificate. District Judge Eric Moyé sided with the city in November, ruling that the board had abused its power. Texas Card House ap- pealed the decision, and the litigation has been ongoing ever since. City Council member Chad West said he was grudgingly voting to approve the extra funds, calling the suit ridiculous and asking when it would end. City Council member Omar Narvaez agreed with West, asking if there was a way to hold off on the suit be- cause Dallas is also working on a legal path forward for the clubs. West asked city staff for an update on this work. The city attorney, Tammy Palomino, said at the City Council meeting: “We have a favor- able judgment out of the trial court. We did not appeal that judgment. Texas Card House did. It is in the best interest of the city to defend the favorable judgment in the trial court.” City staff said an ordinance that could al- low poker rooms in the city could be ready for review by the Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee this fall. Once it gets through that committee, the ordinance will go to the City Plan Commission, then to City Council. “For me personally, I’d really like to see that come up as soon as possible to council,” West said at the meeting. “By this not being a legal use, we’re just pushing all these opera- tors underground, which is just a recipe for illegal activity going on versus making this a legal use.” ▼ ALLEN SHOOTING ‘WE GOT HIM’ ALLEN POLICE RELEASE BODYCAM FOOTAGE OF OUTLET MALL GUNMAN CONFRONTATION. BY KELLY DEARMORE L ast week the Allen Police Department released footage from the body-worn camera depicting the initial response to the May 6 mass shooting at Allen Pre- mium Outlets. According to a press release, the video was presented as evidence to a grand jury investigating the officer’s use of deadly force. “After reviewing the facts of the investi- gation, the grand jury returned a ‘no bill’ on Tuesday, June 27 which indicates that the use of force was justified under Texas law,” the statement noted. Just after 3:30 p.m. on May 6, 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia shot and killed eight people and injured several more. Garcia was shot and killed by an Allen officer who was at the mall, responding to an unrelated call. A spokesman for the Allen PD told the Observer the department is continuing to keep the responding officer’s name from be- ing publicly available at his request. At the beginning of the 5 minute, 32 second video, the officer is speaking to a woman and two children about seatbelt safety in a section of the mall’s parking lot when the popping sound of gunshots can be heard in the dis- tance, off-camera. As the woman ducks and takes both chil- dren by the arms to move away, the officer says into his radio, “I think we got shots fired at the outlet mall.” As the officer reaches into his vehicle, with more audible gunshots in the distance, he adds, “We got people running.” As the officer begins running up a park- ing lot aisle towards the gunshot sounds, he notes the shots are moving farther away as he directs cars in the parking lot to “get mov- ing” and to “get out of here.” At the 1:28 mark of the footage, the officer slows his pace as he rounds a corner of the mall’s building, where a voice can be heard yelling, followed by more gunshots. The offi- cer seemed to be getting much closer to the gunman, as the shots are much louder at this point in the video than at the beginning. “I’m still moving, I’m trying to get where they’re shooting,” said the officer when re- sponding to a call on the radio asking for his location. As gunshots continued to be heard, the officer adds, “I’m on foot, I need every- body I got.” As his pace begins to pick back up, and gunshots grow louder, the officer seems to start understanding the situation more fully when he asks someone off cam- era, “What you got? A real mass shooter?” Just before the four-minute mark, the offi- cer fires his rifle into a mall corridor. After several shots the officer reports into his radio “shots fired by police, I’ve got him down,” be- fore firing again and yelling “drop the gun!” As music continues to play on speakers in the corridor, the officer steadily makes his way toward where Garcia went down. Another officer with a gun aimed at Gar- cia’s blurred-out body joins the first-respond- ing officer. The video ends with the additional officer saying “you good, you good,” as the first-responding officer wearing the bodycam replies, “You good? We got him?” “This video shows how quickly a routine interaction with the public turned into a life-and-death situation,” said Allen police Chief Brian Harvey in the press release. “The officer recognized the danger, ran to- ward the gunfire and neutralized the threat – and for his actions, the Allen community is forever grateful.” The bodycam footage comes three weeks after the Allen Fire Department released a comprehensive timeline of its response to the mass shooting. The release also marks the first official law enforcement update from the Allan PD, Texas Rangers and the FBI, the three agencies investigating the shooting, since a press conference three days after the massacre on May 9. Allen Premium Outlets reopened on May 31 with increased security and an announce- ment that plans for a permanent memorial are in the works. ▼ POLITICS WATER WORRY STUDY OF MARVIN NICHOLS RESERVOIR MAY LEAD TO VICTORY FOR OPPONENTS, BY JACOB VAUGHN O pponents of the Marvin Nichols Reservoir were looking to have it re- moved from the state’s water plan this legislative session. That didn’t happen, but the reservoir foes walked away with a small win when Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 1, approving the state’s budget. It includes a feasibility study of a reservoir that’s meant to serve Dallas-Fort Worth’s fu- ture water needs. Janice Bezanson, senior policy director for the Texas Conservation Alliance, an ad- vocacy group focused on preserving wild- life, said the study won’t likely end the Marvin Nichols Reservoir, but it could be a helpful nail in the coffin. She and Shutterstock A legal path forward for the poker rooms could be ready for city review by September or October. 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